Chapter Three
"I'm not going."
"You're going."
"I said..."
"I heard what you said, Leonard." Queen Sabine's voice was calm, clipped, and merciless. She didn't even glance up from the parchment she was annotating. "And I'm telling you, as both your mother and acting regent of Jevenex, that your bags will be packed by morning."
Leo stepped further into the study, shoulders tense. "You're punishing me for what? A few stolen minutes with a maid in a linen closet?"
"You were caught with your hand halfway down her blouse and your mouth on her neck," she said dryly, finally looking up. "Not exactly the image of future royalty."
Leo rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. You're acting like I staged a coup."
She arched a brow. "You disgraced the name of this house in a hallway with foot traffic. That's not just poor judgment. That's reckless idiocy."
He stepped forward, jaw tight. "You don't get to make royal decisions alone. I'm the Crown Prince. I have a say."
Sabine stood slowly. Not in anger. In power.
"You're not king yet," she said coolly. "And until you are, I am both your regent and your mother. That means I outrank you, twice."
Leo's hands curled into fists at his sides. "You can't treat me like I'm twelve."
"And you can't act like you're eighteen," she snapped. "You think a crown will solve everything? It won't. It will only expose what's already weak in you. And right now?" She stepped closer, voice lowering like a blade being unsheathed. "You're not ready."
Leo laughed, but it was bitter. "So what, you're sending me to learn how to be average?"
"No." She moved past him, walking toward the window with eerie calm. "I'm sending you to learn how to be grounded. There's a difference."
Leo turned on her. "You want me to sit through high school with hormone-fueled idiots and cafeteria slop, just so I can prove I'm... what? Obedient?"
"I want you to understand that privilege without discipline is nothing more than chaos wrapped in silk," she said sharply. "You want the truth? You want answers about what your father was, what you are becoming?" She turned to face him again. "Then show me you can carry the weight of who you are. Not just the shine of your title."
Leo stared at her, something raw in his throat, burning behind his ribs. "You're really doing this."
"Yes." Her voice was final. "Tomorrow. You're enrolled. Uniforms have been tailored. Schedules arranged. I even had your security team briefed."
"And if I refuse?"
She smiled coldly. "You won't. Because deep down, you know something's coming. And if you're smart, you'll be ready when it does."
Leo didn't speak. He just stood there, breathing hard, teeth clenched.
Sabine returned to her parchment like she hadn't just sentenced him to exile.
"And Leonard," she added, without looking up, "if you try to run... I'll have your phone deactivated, your car impounded, and your royal allowance frozen."
Leo's shoulders slumped, defeated. "You're evil."
"No," she murmured. "I'm your mother."
***
Back in his room, Leo flopped face-first onto the couch.
Desmond leaned on the doorframe, munching on a grape. "So. Did you beg? Cry? Threaten to abdicate?"
"She's still sending me."
Desmond whistled. "Brutal."
Leo rolled over, frowning. "She's using it as punishment. Because of the whole… maid thing."
"Dude, you got busted bad."
Leo groaned. "The Queen. My mother. Walking into my room like she's delivering a state execution…"
Desmond laughed. "So what now, Your Highness? First period P.E.?"
Leo scowled. "Don't get comfortable. I'm dragging you down with me."
Desmond blinked. "Wait, what? I have a school I'm going to!"
Leo smirked. "Pack your bag, peasant."
**"
The next morning, the gates of Briarwick Academy opened to a fleet of black luxury sedans and armoured vehicles. The sun hadn't fully risen, but the courtyard buzzed with students and staff who had all heard the same rumor:
The Crown Prince is enrolling.
The school itself was modest, gothic buildings of aging stone, ivy crawling up its facades, a carved iron sign that read Discipline and Excellence. The cobbled paths were filled with curious students, most in perfectly pressed uniforms.
Then came the motorcade.
Engines quieted. The doors of the lead vehicle opened.
Leo stepped out in slow motion. Sharp blazer. Custom loafers. The royal crest shining subtly on his collar pin. His hair was styled like he didn't care, which, of course, meant it was perfect.
Half the girls gasped audibly.
The other half already had their phones out.
The boys? Most stood stiffly by the courtyard walls, pretending not to stare.
Teachers rushed forward in a flurry of smiles and awkward bows. The principal, a balding man with an unfortunate mustache, stepped up nervously.
"Your Highness! We are deeply honored to welcome you to Briarwick Academy," he beamed. "We've prepared everything as instructed, your schedule, your security, although, er, the Queen did ask that your guards remain just outside the classroom doors, not inside them."
Leo turned to the principal, unimpressed. "And if I get stabbed with a pen?"
The principal laughed nervously. "Our students are very well-behaved, I assure you."
Leo didn't respond.
Butler Alden stepped in smoothly, bowing his head slightly. "We're grateful for your cooperation, Headmaster. The Queen values discretion."
Leo eyed the courtyard warily. "Discretion would've been arriving in an unmarked donkey cart."
The butler smiled without smiling. "Your mother insisted you make an impression."
"She succeeded," Leo muttered, eyes scanning the students whispering behind trees.
***
Inside the Year 13 block, chaos reigned.
Backpacks flew. Girls screamed. Boys pretended they weren't shoving each other for a glimpse of royalty. The classroom felt more like a zoo on fire than a place of learning.
Leo stepped in. A hush fell… for two seconds.
Then,
"Oh my God, it's him, "
"He's so much hotter in person!"
"Do you think he smells like royal soap?"
"Shut up, Marcy!"
Girls swarmed his desk instantly.
One perched on the corner. "Hi, Your Highness. I like… your face."
Another giggled. "Do you need help opening your locker? Or like… breathing?"
Leo, drowning in perfume and compliments, looked to the back of the room, desperate.
Desmond would've been no help, but at least he'd have laughed.
The swarm didn't thin until the form teacher entered, Miss Claudette, sharp-eyed and iron-spined, in a pencil skirt and navy blouse that looked like it had never wrinkled a day in its life.
"Everyone back to your seats!" she barked, slamming the attendance register on her desk.
The girls scattered like leaves in the wind, half giggling, half terrified. One tripped over a desk leg. Another bumped into the whiteboard and knocked down a marker tray.
"Do I look like I'm in the mood to babysit?" Miss Claudette muttered as she adjusted her thick-rimmed glasses. She scanned the classroom like a military general inspecting her battalion, then turned her gaze to Leo. "Your Highness."
Leo blinked. "Yeah?"
"Would you like to introduce yourself?"
He stared. Then slowly, very deliberately, "No."
There was a pause.
Miss Claudette tilted her head just slightly. "Pardon?"
"I said no." Leo shrugged, slouching a little. "I'm not a performing monkey."
Her lips pressed together, unimpressed.
A beat of silence.
Then Leo sighed. "Leonard Kincaid. That's it."
Boom.
The classroom erupted.
"Yoooooo!"
"My king! My prince! My husband!"
"He's so chill, bro, I love him already."
One girl near the front fanned herself with her textbook. Another literally swooned against the back wall. A guy leaned across the aisle and whispered, "You don't even need to talk, man. That was iconic."
Leo just sat, arms crossed, expression deadpan, eyes flicking to the ceiling like he was praying for a meteor strike.
Then, he noticed a student.
Seemed tall. Clean-cut. Dark curls just brushing his brow. Uniform sharp. Tie perfectly knotted.
Not laughing.
Not clapping.
Just watching.
Leo squinted.
The guy wasn't admiring him like the others. He wasn't grinning or whispering or even pretending to be impressed.
He was staring straight at Leo with eyes that didn't blink. Eyes that pinned him like a knife to a wall.
A slow, cold chill crawled up Leo's spine.
That stare wasn't curiosity.
It was a warning.